A man who reportedly intended to light only charcoal in a grill sparked a 2-acre brush fire that burned up a canyon toward homes north of Otay Mesa Road Wednesday, fire and police officials said.

Local residents off Ocean View Hills Parkway, west of Interstate 805, told San Diego police they saw a dirty, bearded man in a dark trench coat come out of the canyon as the flames were spreading at noon.

He was detained by police while witnesses identified him, and he was jailed on suspicion of recklessly causing a vegetation fire, a felony, said Maurice Luque, San Diego Fire-Rescue Department spokesman.

Luque said the 54-year-old man, Michael Jones Boyle, told authorities he had lit a charcoal fire in a barbeque grill, but did not intend to set the surrounding brush on fire.

Meanwhile, firefighters aided by Copter 1 making water drops, got the blaze under control about 45 minutes later.

Luque said the breezes from the west pushed flames toward Ocean View Hills Parkway and firefighters were concerned that embers would be carried across the four-lane road to residences on the east side. The fire was doused before that happened.